e30 316 build x2 (m52/m50, turbo, 3pcs bottle caps etc)

[pazi88]

Teaser:

[pazi88]

Love your cars. I stumbled across your youtube channel a while back, when you started to take apart the turbo. Everything looked really familiar, but it took me a while to figure out it was you.

Not sure how expensive shipping or exchange rate are, but you should be able to pick up a good set of s50us/S52 cams for $350usd if you try hard enough.

Edit: I was the guy who was asking about what boost you were running with stock headbolts

Yeah I have tried hunting those s52 cams from ebay.com but they came up quite rarely. And when I have found set, the price is so high that it cheaper to buy new set from germany, because of the shipping costs and import tax. (no need to pay import tax, when I order from germany).

Whole s52 engine would be nice, because in Finland you are not allowed to fit euro s50 to non-M e36 or e30. But s52 would be ok when lied that it's m52b28 or even don't tell that you have swapped the m50/m52 engine :D

About those stock head bolts, I just remembered that guy in Finland got 636hp from his m50b30 using stock head bolts and stock headgasket (with custom fire rings made from mig wire). So the stock head bolts should hold for my use.

Here is one video of that car:


And in car video with older bit less powerful engine:

[Northern]

Love your cars. I stumbled across your youtube channel a while back, when you started to take apart the turbo. Everything looked really familiar, but it took me a while to figure out it was you.

Not sure how expensive shipping or exchange rate are, but you should be able to pick up a good set of s50us/S52 cams for $350usd if you try hard enough.

Edit: I was the guy who was asking about what boost you were running with stock headbolts

[pazi88]

Are the normal timing marks on the m54b30 cam still available when timing an m50b25 with that cam? Also shouldn't you use both m54 cams as they are both an upgrade instead of using only one?
Using only one high lift/bigger duration cam on the intake makes me think it's better for emissions because the exhaust gasses get re burnt.

M54 intake cam in M50 or M52 can be timed using the normal timing tools. You cannot use M54 exhaust cam on single vanos engines because the cam is for vanos. He has M50 intake cam installed as the exhaust cam. It has the same specs as the M54 intake cam and has a bit more duration and lift than M54 exhaust cam. It requires machining a little to correct the chain line and needs to be timed with a dial gauge.

And for Pazi: Great job with this car!

Like skarpa said. By the way the emissions don't matter in this case here in Finland because e30 is so old car that they don't have very strict emissions requirements here. And also the m54b30 exhaust cam has same specs as the m52b28 exaust cam, so even if you could somehow make that fit, it doesn't make sense. The s52 cams would be the best and easiest to install performance cams for m52, but it would be youte costly. S52 cams are about 600-700€ as new and I was able to get the m54b30 + m50NV cams for 150€ combined, so those are quite a bargain. Even if you would spend another 150€ to regrind the m54b30 intake cam to meet the s52 specs or even better, it's still lot cheaper option.

Both builds are absolutely amazing, really fantastic work especially with all of that rust!

It makes me happy to know that even someone who has the ability to do this level of work can still make a silly mistake like forgetting to oil the diff.

wow ... just wow ... amazing build.

You're a god damn scientist. Incredible work both repair and modding. One of the best build threads I've read. Keep it coming!

Thanks a lot!

[Nick_S]

You're a god damn scientist. Incredible work both repair and modding. One of the best build threads I've read. Keep it coming!

[Coyote_ar]

wow ... just wow ... amazing build.

[dishwab]

Both builds are absolutely amazing, really fantastic work especially with all of that rust!

It makes me happy to know that even someone who has the ability to do this level of work can still make a silly mistake like forgetting to oil the diff.

[Skarpa]

Are the normal timing marks on the m54b30 cam still available when timing an m50b25 with that cam? Also shouldn't you use both m54 cams as they are both an upgrade instead of using only one?
Using only one high lift/bigger duration cam on the intake makes me think it's better for emissions because the exhaust gasses get re burnt.

M54 intake cam in M50 or M52 can be timed using the normal timing tools. You cannot use M54 exhaust cam on single vanos engines because the cam is for vanos. He has M50 intake cam installed as the exhaust cam. It has the same specs as the M54 intake cam and has a bit more duration and lift than M54 exhaust cam. It requires machining a little to correct the chain line and needs to be timed with a dial gauge.

And for Pazi: Great job with this car!

[iloveshaorma]

Are the normal timing marks on the m54b30 cam still available when timing an m50b25 with that cam? Also shouldn't you use both m54 cams as they are both an upgrade instead of using only one?
Using only one high lift/bigger duration cam on the intake makes me think it's better for emissions because the exhaust gasses get re burnt.

[pazi88]

Here is the project videos in youtube about that engine removal and disassembly I told in previous post:

[Mushi]

Neat

[pazi88]

Last weekend I finally had time to start working with my e30 turbo and immediately took out the engine. Of course I first had to run the engine to hear it last time. And to get the pumps and injectors running because ethanol fuel can clog them:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDII5DnHD2D/?taken-by=sipasema

Engine out:


Looks quite empty:


I could do this even my eye closed because I have done this so many times.




Block emptied:


I didn't have time to investigate the engine but here is something I found on first glimpse. unfortunately couldn't find anything that would cause the shaky engine at medium throttle (which is the reason I took apart the engine).

But the things I found:

- Small metallic bits on the oil pan and metal in oil. No idea where the bits are, but the metal is from cylinder walls.
- Pistons are in ok condition.
- Ring gaps are in spec.
- No bent connecting rods this time.
- cylinder walls have mirror finish :D
- bearings have something in them but not bad.
- Need to polish few journals from crank.

But the most interesting fact is that the piston are the wrong ones for teh engine. They look like pistons for the dual vanos engine. And also they are with wrong diameter for the engine. The max clearance between cylinder wall and piston should be 0,15 mm and these had about 1 mm clearance. The wear on cylinder walls couldn't cause this because ring gaps are still in spec.

Looks like the guy who had rebuild this engine in England had no idea what to do. Previously I have found crooked head that has not been resurfaced and oil pump has been assembled wrong with broken parts. And now wrong pistons.

Now plan is to correctly assemble the engine to spec. The wear on cylinder walls may have been caused by the wrong size pistons on too rich fuel (ethanol wears out the oil). I will lean the mixture on my tune to fix this. And for the shaky engine I can't find any other reason than wrong cams (more lift and duration on exhaust side.) So I will change the intake cam to m54b30 one. That seems to work in my daily.

[pazi88]

Holy crap dude, amazing work on both cars. I love how you kept the 318i badge on the brown car.

Thanks but it's 316 ;)

[stonea]

Holy crap dude, amazing work on both cars. I love how you kept the 318i badge on the brown car.

[pazi88]

New episode is out at youtube:


We are currently working on turbo manifold for the ONE. Here is few pics:








Our everlast TIG just died in that point, so we have to finis it using MIG welder. Hopefully it will still be good enough. The welding is alredy done and the manifold is now at the machine shop to get the flanges straight,

My turbo still waits in garage for attention. I have all the parts to fix the engine and I managed to buy m54b30 intake cam for more power. I'm also upgrading the tires for these Yokohamas: